The Tale of Fairies and Ghouls
by tragicjpg
Summary: First, ghouls were a rumor, a new species appearing on the Earth Land. Said to eat humans, mage or not, and were almost as dangerous as Zeref, or at least his most powerful demons. As guilds slowly diminish, teams lessen, even magic seem to ebb; those ghouls become the reality. Soon, it is up to the remaining mages to protect the ones they love.


**Author's Note:**

I love Tokyo Ghoul, and Fairy Tail, so why not? (Spoiler coming) In this fanfiction, Fairy Tail didn't break up after the Tartarus arc, they stuck together. (PC readers only) Also, I prefer you read my stories in size 3/4.

 **SUMMARY:**

First, ghouls were a rumor, a new species appearing on the Earth Land. Said to eat humans, mage or not, and were almost as dangerous as Zeref, or at least his most powerful demons. As guilds slowly diminish, teams lessen, even magic seem to ebb; those ghouls become the reality. Soon, it is up to the remaining mages to protect the ones they love.

* * *

 **01\. Glassy Sky**

 _ **"** How many days have passed like this? This city the crowd is fading, moving on,_

 _I sometimes have wondered where you've gone. Story carries on,_

 _lonely, lost inside._ "

* * *

 **[ Four hours ago ]**

"Blue Leaves have been torn apart," a voice drawled, reading the newspaper to anyone that was listening in Fairy Tail. "Only eight members survives, though five of them had been severely traumatized. The three other mages that managed to stay calm all told stories of the bloody battle they faced. Watching the monsters feed off of their nakamas right in front of them."

To hear of another guild getting completely destroyed, or a large number of their members found gone was no longer a shock anymore, but that didn't mean it hurt any less. The people that were listening to the reader stared down at their laps or drinks, and some had their hands rolled into a tight fist. One of those people were Natsu.

He gritted his teeth, and watched everyone stare absently at whatsoever. He hated those monsters, those demons, those _ghouls_. It seemed like nothing could stop them, and the misery dragged on for too long now. No one in Fairy Tail had faced them just yet, but the keyword was 'yet'. Ghouls first came into their media and minds three years ago, however only as a rumor. They would be whispered about in cafes, and told about at campfires, because they were just that frightening.

Now, the ghouls had witnesses, and evidence on their existence. The first article of news came last year, when half of an entire guild across the country of Fiore was eaten by them. No one had yet labeled them as cannibals, since no one wanted to believe they were humans.

The master sat on the bar, examining the room from that spot while sipping a mug of beer.

It was supposed to be peaceful, and happy again. His children were supposed to be laughing now, or fighting their way to laugher at least.

The wind howled outside as it blew against the rattling windows and creaking door. The whole building seemed to shake under the powerful gusts. It was quiet in there now, since the person that was reading the newspaper had stopped and people no longer had the voice to speak. For the first time in a long time, they were all truly scared. Their voices were no longer cheerful, and they had no good stories to tell. They weren't use to being this overwhelmed for this long, and Master felt a lump form in his throat.

Three years ago, after Tartarus was destroyed, he wanted to disband Fairy Tail, and out of his lack of use. He had never felt so guilty, watching his children cry and fight, without being able to do much. Mavis had tried to comfort him about it, but even to this day, it had eaten some part of him, but he supposed it was also good that he didn't disband though. For if he did, he was sure many of them would have had gotten attack by a ghoul by now.

"Natsu, calm down," Lucy whispered, and placed her pale hand on top of his fist. His veins popped out from his beige skin, and he continued gritting his teeth, his jaw clenched. "There's nothing we can do about it." She added.

He still didn't look at her. Unfortunately, they began dating a little after the ghouls made their official appearance. Lucy had never seen him so shook up, and frustrated. At night, they would stare at the boarded window and talk about how angry and sad they were. Natsu had such a despair in his tone, that it would break Lucy's heart.

There were so many things he wanted to do. _I'll kill all the ghouls!_ Was usually one of them. Actually, it always was one of them. That, and _I'll always protect you_ became his nightly promises.

"How can I calm down? How are you calm? Our friends are getting killed every day! And I can't protect any of them," he lowered his voice close to the end of the sentence, and then leaned back.

"There are some things we just can't do, we try and try, but sometimes it doesn't work," she told him softly.

As Natsu was just going to respond, Erza and Gray walked over. They walked in slow steps, almost looking like they were dragging themselves. Lucy thought they planned to leave earlier, but with this weather, she guessed that no one really could. It had started to rain, and the raindrops came down fast, like bullets at the glass windows. It was the loudest sound echoing in the building, aside from the occasionally groans coming from all over the room.

The two sat down in front of Lucy and Natsu, and none of them said anything for some time. What was there to say? No amount of comforting words could make them feel better.

"We're mages," Natsu muttered, "Aren't we suppose to protect? Aren't we suppose to keep training, and get stronger to help? Why can't we do anything?" His question was directed towards anyone, but mainly to himself. He felt so weak, so useless. This wasn't something he would ever get use to.

Erza perked up when she heard him, and crossed her arms. That was something she asked herself every day, and it was a terrible question to pressure oneself to answer. A cause of another guilt trip. And it was worse to see someone she loved and seen as a younger brother do it. "You need to stop doing this to yourself, Natsu." She said, and leaned forward. Her short red hair swayed back to front as she did, and her metal armor clanked against the wooden table.

The clank resonated throughout the main hall, and some people checked over to them.

It wasn't Natsu's nature to be so negative, but that was the only atmosphere he was creating. Anger, sorrow, frustration, annoyance, and fear. He was quiet, and didn't say anything else. Instead, he held Lucy's hand, and rubbed his thumb against hers. It was his way of finding comfort sometimes, to just relax and remind himself that there were still lovable things in the world.

"Any booze, guys?" Mirajane asked when she came by and placed one mug in front of Natsu anyways. It looked like he was the one that needed it most.

However, Natsu pushed the mug away with three fingers, and shook his head. The last thing he wanted was to be drunk. The beer would slow him down, or possibly cause him to be reckless. During these days, being careless was far too risky to be fun. That was when he knew that he and the world had truly changed.

Since the mug happened to be pushed closer to Gray, he took it instead, and gulped it down quickly. "Thanks," he mumbled as Mirajane placed the empty mug on her tray. Then he scanned the room, looking for a certain blue haired woman. For the first time, he missed her eccentric attitude. Despite how annoyed he seemed at her most times, he actually found it very amusing and even found her somewhat adorable sometimes. When he seen that she was nowhere around, he looked at Mirajane, who was just going to leave. "Where's Juvia, Mirajane?" He questioned.

Mirajane also took her time to quickly search around the room. There she noticed a few other missing people. "I guess she went out on a missing, Gajeel and Levy aren't here either. I suppose the three went together," she informed Gray, and then took her free hand to tap her chin, "Actually, I remember Levy telling me she was going out with the two earlier." She added.

"A mission? Isn't it quite dangerous right now, though?" Erza raised her eyebrows. She was speaking about the weather, and the predicament too. It was dark outside, which was when ghouls were usually more active.

"I'm sure they'll be fine. They have Gajeel after all!" Mirajane beamed, although there was a bad feeling in her gut.

They could always trust her to be cheerful, so everyone but Natsu pushed up a smile, he had a small grin on his face. "That metal head is probably singing to them right now." He joked.

Mirajane giggled, and nodded her head in agreement. It was nice to see Natsu joke around. It brought more of the old Fairy Tail vibe back. "Well, I got to go serve other tables. I'll talk to you four later!" She sang, and then walked away. The negative feeling in her still didn't leave, and she struggled to keep the smile on her face.

After she was gone, the table started to joke on Gajeel more. Not because they thought of him as a joke, or anything like that, but because for once they finally got Natsu to joke. They finally had something fun to talk about, for now.

"Let me sing you a song, Levy," Natsu imitated in a hoarse voice, trying to mimic Gajeel. He had a one hand at the mid-torso, and the other lifted up at his left, as if he was holding a guitar. It was such an accurate picture of how it would have had looked like that the three others chuckled.

"Oh, I'd eat you, like I would eat metal!" Gray jumped in, gaining some weird looks.

"Gray!" Lucy laughed with a light blush. Natsu grinned, and Erza smirked. Even Mirajane, who was a good number of tables away understood the joke, and giggled. The smile on her face widened and she continued to serve the drinks with small chatter.

This definitely wasn't the most fun they had, but compared to the past days, months, and perhaps years, it was. For that moment, it appeared that they had forgotten how gray it was outside, and how hushed it was in the guild. Erza, and Lucy laughed loudly as Gray and Natsu acted as singers, part of a rock band or some sort. Lucy clapped her hands, cheering, and soon other members joined in. Everyone jumped up in down, pretending to sing along to the satire.

"Whoa! Let's go, Natsu!" Lucy marveled.

At the bar, the master watched with a large smile. It sort of looked like nothing had changed in Fairy Tail at all, that it was still full of life. This was what he had wished for, and though he knew it would last, he was glad it was happening still. Then he hopped off the bar, and walked to the back door. There were some things he had to do.

Natsu and Gray finished their act with a final strum through their air guitar strings, and nodded their heads in rhythm. Just like a band, and the Fairy Tail members were their biggest fans. They, mainly the girls, squealed and jumped up and down. Some of the guys swung their arms around Natsu and Gray's neck, and others gave them a pat on the back. The lights hanging on the ceiling had seemed to gotten brighter, illuminating their faces and eyes.

* * *

 **[** **Now** **]**

A group of four stood outside of the guild, examined the large building and watched a red and gold flag move aggressively through the howling wind. They wore black capes, and masks to cover up almost all of their face, except for their eyes. They always made sure those were visible, and just for the hell of it too. Red pupils surrounded by black sclera. It always made people shiver.

"Make sure we all stick together, guys. We're only stronger than those wizards when we're together." Someone said, right before pressing their hand on the wooden door.

A specific raucous laughter grew louder from one certain woman. Her hood slid down from her head, and her wet lilac hair gleamed under the yellow lights hanging by the door. "Kazuki, you guys are the only ones that need to stick together, I can do just fine on my own." She told them defiantly. It wasn't rare for her to act superior at all, it happened more times than it should have had actually, and it was far from admirable.

"Rize! This is the guild that everyone is careful about. Don't you do your research? We might not even stand a chance with them." Another person countered, rolling their eyes and groaning. Rize this, Rize that. Everyone felt like that was all she wanted it to be like.

"Also, I don't understand on why I just didn't come in and seduce them first. Wouldn't that be funner? To make them think that I am one of them, only to soon eat them. Isn't human betrayal a humorous thing? The look on their face is flawless."

"It's a waste of time in this weather. And don't you remember that we're not here to eat all of them? We need to grab a person. Rize, don't you ever think?"

"Stop fighting! Are you all ready?" Kazuki asked, already lightly pushing the door.

Nearly all members inside couldn't hear the creak it gave out, due to the heavy rain pouring down on the roof, except for Natsu and a sleepy Wendy. Natsu perked up, and sniffed the air, smelling something unfamiliar. While the others drank booze and laughed, he brought his attention to the door. It didn't move one bit it appeared, but he knew someone was outside. After Wendy had fully woken up, she walked over to Natsu, and tugged at his sleeve like a child. Despite her having quite a developed bosom, and growing much taller, Natsu along with many others still seen her as a kid, or more importantly, their kid. Like a younger sibling to guide and protect.

"Are you okay, Wendy?" Natsu inquired, though not looking away from the door.

Since his arm was wrapped around Lucy's waist, it loosened as he grew more stern. Lucy felt his grasp loosen, and turned towards them. Before she could say anything, the front doors burst opened, and the wind blew in with such a force, it nearly threw some people off their balance. Lucy's long blonde hair blew to the left of her, and she could smell the something metallic, and it wasn't the Gajeel type of metal. It was so strong, it was sickening almost.

"Ghouls," Natsu whispered in complete shock. "Lucy, don't look," he ordered, "All of you, try to run away."

The four ghouls stood at the entrance for a moment, and fortunately for them, the wind had helped pick up the scents all over the room for them. People screamed and ran past the tables to the stage and other rooms. For Fairy Tail to run away was rare, but no one could remember how important it was to fight when they didn't see the point in fighting. Only a few stood still, staring at the four with wide eyes. Erza, Mirajane, Grey, Natsu, Wendy, and Lucy. The master had disappeared. No one expected this, well, they expected a ghoul encounter at some point, but not this soon. This was too soon.

"Well, well, aren't you all going to run?" A boy, the shortest person with a red shield around his arm, questioned.

Mirajane's hands shook, and she dropped her tray to the floor. Lucy trembled, Wendy whimpered, Gray gritted his teeth, and Erza felt her heart pound so hard, it appeared to hit the metal of her armor. Natsu clenched his jaw, and felt an intensifying heat run through his skin. This was what he had been preparing for, all those days of utter anger fueled to kill them. All he wanted was to have them dead, so that his family wouldn't be as scared anymore.

Rize was the first to take a wide stride in, still not revealing her kagune, whereas the other three already had. There were two bikaku kagunes, and one koukaku kagune.

"Because none of you guys want to play chase, and my team," she scoffed at the word 'team', "won't jump at you guys already. My first pick!" She screamed, and leaped up while four long red tentacles in bent shapes and sharp points came out from her back.

"Run!" Natsu whispered, and he kicked Wendy to the floor. He would never encourage someone to back down, but he knew that this was a life or death battle. A bright orange flame formed at Natsu's fist and he jumped from the booth.

Wendy wanted to stay and fight, but Lucy went to her and pushed her to hurry. "Go, go now. Follow Mirajane." She quickly commanded as Mirajane rushed over. The three other ghouls were running over to them now, with their faces determined.

It was two versus three, and specifically, two human mages versus three ghouls.

Erza summoned two swords, and rushed over to them. Gray created an ice gun, and shot rapid bullets at the ghouls running towards them. Two out of the three managed to dodge the bullets, but the one with red wrapped around his left arm lagged behind and got pelted at right in the head. It was too easy for Gray, that he felt accomplished. He began shooting the ice bullets faster, and Erza tried to slice the kagunes.

"That won't do, beautiful." The ghoul crooned, as their bikaku regenerated quickly.

Natsu glanced over at Erza and Gray, but in that moment, Rize dashed past him, and aimed at Lucy. "There you are, queen!" She smirked, and wrapped Lucy in one of her tentacle claws. Lucy shrieked and tried to summon a spirit, only to realize that the tentacle was tightening the more she spoke. She couldn't summon any magic with the feeling that her ribs were going to puncture her lungs soon.

"Lucy!" Natsu boomed, and then cupped his hands around his mouth. "Fire dragon's roar!" He shouted, and a vast amount of burning fire blew out of his mouth.

It came fast, and Rize barely dodged it. This was the first time someone had challenged her this far, and she was quite enjoying it. Her sadistic attitude only enlarged with Lucy screaming out Natsu's name, and him preparing for another attack. Rize squeezed Lucy even tighter, to the point of where she spat out blood. The blood landed right on Rize's cheek, and she could smell it. The scent was salivating, but it wasn't the scent that she first smelled when she entered.

Natsu ran to Rize, a ball of fire at his fist, and just when he thought he was going to land it on her, he felt a piece through his stomach. Since he was so close to Rize, his blood also landed on her, and she swiped his blood off her skin, and licked it. Her eyes widened, and she took a step closer to him.

"How delicious! You're the one I been smelling!" She marveled, and pulled out her tentacle from his stomach. Natsu fell right to the floor, and Lucy cried loudly.

"Natsu! Natsu!" She cried, kicking her feet.

"Let's go, Rize! We got what we wanted." The two other ghouls witnessed the scene, and retreated to the door.

Erza and Gray planned to chase them because they were doing well before, but noticed why the ghouls ran. They ran over, ready to attack Rize, but her tentacles flew straight, right in front of them. The keen points of her kagune barely scraping Erza's metal and Gray's bare chest. "We never planned to kill any of you, but you all interfered, so we had to try to kill him. If Lucy hadn't been so bad, we would've never came entirely. This is all because of you." Rize said and stared up at Lucy, although that wasn't true. She simply wanted them to feel guilty, that this was all their fault. That their loss was because of Lucy.

"Now, if you want Lucy to live too, you will stay put and let us leave."

Erza and Gray froze, the only sound being Lucy's whimpering. The ghouls only came because of me, Natsu is dead because of me, Lucy thought. _What did we do to deserve this?_ She continued to scream his name, in hope that he would lift up his head and just look at her. Anything to prove that he still alive.

* * *

" _The mystery of it, I recall._

 _Suddenly the truth will change the way we fall. I didn't wanna hurt you, hope you know._

 _Empty promises, shattered dreams of love._ "

* * *

He wasn't lifting up his head. As Lucy's friends grew smaller and smaller, the scene still wasn't changing. Erza and Gray still knelt before Natsu, and Natsu laid still on the ground. She was being carried on a well-built man's shoulder, no longer having the energy to kick and scream. They threatened that they would kill her if she even curled a toe or uttered a sigh, however the thought of death didn't seem that bad. She just lost the only man she loved, and she was sure that her friends wouldn't be able to look at her.

"Why can't we eat her again, Kazuki?" The buff one asked. There were only three of them now, and Lucy assumed Kazuki was the leader.

"Hagi wants her. Something about blue blood, I don't know, Steph." Kazuki shrugged. His once slick black hair was ruffled due to the fight he had with the redhead. For some strange reason, she wouldn't leave his mind. He was memorizing her fighting power, and how strong she deemed when fighting.

Rize was a few steps ahead of everyone, and she hummed. She didn't have the hood on anymore, and her hair was tied loosely at the end with a black bow. This was a typical sign that she was going to go out hunting later, at the late night clubs that were unfortunately opened despite curfew. The rain had gotten lighter, and the wind blew more softly. This was the weather she loved. It made her feel like she had absolutely no worries in this tragical world.

"I'll see you two later, this is my stop." She said, and turned to the left of her, towards an narrow alley. She never liked meeting up with their leader, because she didn't think of him as one.

"Okay, don't do anything stupid." Kazuki replied, and simply continued walking. He knew how much she detested Hagi, but couldn't care to do anything about it. It was her life, and frankly, Kazuki didn't care about that a lot either. He spoke often about teamwork, but really, it was only to calm down his constantly worried team.

Ghouls were strong, no doubt about that, however, some mages were just as strong too. Fairy Tail held multiple of those strong mages, as he had researched.

Lucy kept on staring at the direction of the guild, it was tiny now, and she could only make out the shape. Multiple roofs, high flags, and a large fence stretched around the whole building. Her hand raised up with her fingers stretched apart, and slowly it closed, as if she was grabbing onto the last bit of home in front of her. Her home. Her only home, getting further and further away. The family that saved her more times than she had said thank you to. People that were so full of care and love, destroyed by the ghouls.

No one was out now, and no one could possibly come to save her. Meaning, she had to save herself. She would have to keep living and fighting against the ghouls, until she was able to return back to her home. Back to _Fairy Tail._

* * *

" _Time has already come._ _Sun is gone and no more shadows._

 _Can't give up I know and this life goes on I'll be strong I'll be strong 'til I see the end._ "

* * *

 **Author's Note:**

This fanfiction is _definitely_ going to be a tragedy, so buckle yourselves down and prepare for the best and worst. Also, I promise I will try not to make the ghouls the antagonist, I don't want that at all. More well-known ghouls will be included later.

 **Feedback, please!**


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